It’s hard to get much further north in New York than the Chateaugay Lake area - the town of Chateaugay itself shares a border with the Canadian province of Quebec.  Founded at the tail end of the eighteenth century, this city has a pair of lakes for its namesake:  Upper Chateaugay Lake, which actually sits to the south, and Lower Chateaugay Lake.  Chateaugay River, a tributary to the mighty St. Lawrence, springs from the smaller Lower Chateaugay Lake.

Having got the geography out of the way, what draws visitors to the Chateaugay Lakes - aside, say, from rustic vacation rental homes?  For well over a century, it’s been game sports - hunting and especially fishing.  The upper lake alone is abundantly supplied with fish, including salmon, pike, perch, smelt, trout, and bass; some of these species are stocked via a two-stage fishery run by the state of New York.  That’s three miles and 2,500-plus watery acres of fishing fun.

If your pleasures don’t include the piscine, there are other activities in the area.  Along the shore of Upper Chateaugay Lake, there is plenty of room for hiking, snowmobiling, even ice skating and skiing.  While you might feel like you’re in the wilds of Adirondack, Montréal’s multicultural cosmopolitanism is just 90 minutes away.  Finally, you can always relax at your vacation rental in Chateaugay Lake and just enjoy one of the world’s most beautiful settings.